For more than eight decades, Scripps College has been graduating women with a liberal arts education that uniquely prepares them to begin careers, enter prestigious graduate schools, or pursue fellowships.

Scripps College 89th Annual Commencement

Poppy MacDonald ’97, president of USAFacts and Scripps alumna, will deliver the address at the 89th commencement exercises on Saturday, May 18.

USAFacts is a nonprofit, nonpartisan civic initiative that aims to make government numbers more available, accessible, and understandable to Americans. Prior to joining USAFacts in 2018, MacDonald was the president and chief operating officer of Politico USA, a political journalism company; National Journal’s publisher, president, and chief revenue officer; Politico Pro’s executive director of business development, overseeing the launch of Politico’s first paid subscription model; and a partner at Gallup, Inc., where she launched the World Poll and led the healthcare practice. MacDonald began her career serving members of Congress representing her Pacific Northwest hometown on both the Senate and House sides of Capitol Hill, and currently resides in Seattle with her husband and two children.

A first-generation college student, MacDonald majored in history while at Scripps. She studied off campus during her junior year, spending the fall semester in Nepal trekking the Himalayas and the spring and summer interning in Washington, D.C., at The McLaughlin Group, the weekly radio roundtable of analysis and opinion.